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Since at least the 1940s, the Northern California Basketball Officials Association has provided area high schools with highly trained, top-level officials for interscholastic basketball competition.

And while the association that now numbers some 90 officials has seen numerous changes to its membership – including splits and mergers – its mission has remained the same...to serve as one of the top basketball officials groups in California.

Today, the association serves 29 Northern Section CIF member schools from Orland, Chico and Paradise schools in its northernmost coverage area to Wheatland, East Nicolaus, Esparto and Winters on the southern end. It also provides officials to three schools outside the contiguous
area who request service: Lassen of Susanville, Delta of Clarksburg, and Rio Vista. The latter two schools joined the section in 1986 and immediately began using NCBOA services, but Delta is scheduled to rejoin the Sac-Joaquin Section for the 2008-09 school year and will likely draw officials from the Sacramento area.

In the early years of the association – called the NCOA – its coverage area was substantial, from Wheatland and East Nicolaus on the south to Redding on the north. That was in the days when no town had more than one high school and coverage was much easier. On the other hand, many schools – especially the larger ones – had as many as four boys teams each.

It wasn’t until the 1960s that the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) implemented the present-day system of varsity-junior varsity-freshman levels. Just as the lower levels have served as a “training” program for aspiring varsity athletes, NCBOA officials have worked their way through the ranks with freshman and JV assignments as they seek the top competition of the varsity level.

Former NCOA official and retired Chico State professor Willie Simmons joined the association in 1946 and was a top-level member. He progressed until he began working games in the Far Western Conference, which included Chico State University and its rivals, as well as junior college games.

George Maderos, without question one of the greatest Chico High School and Chico State athletes in history, joined the association in 1957 after retiring from the San Francisco 49ers. He became Chico State’s football coach but officiated high school basketball with the NCOA, ultimately serving as association president before retiring from officiating in the mid-1970s.

During an interview with Simmons and Maderos, they recalled that the association didn’t charge annual dues for its members, then approximately 35-40 strong. Game fees ranged from $15 to $25, and officials received 8-10 cents per mile for travel.

The association held its meetings at Chico High School every Monday night during the season. A practice game took place in the gym before the season began, and every official took a shot at working a few minutes of the game, thus allowing evaluations and rankings. Officials were assigned games based on their performances at the practice.

With the establishment of Enterprise and Central Valley high schools in the Redding area in 1956, there were soon considerably more games than the Chico-based group could easily handle. According to Dick White, now an evaluator for NCAA Division II officials, Redding-area officials split from the NCOA and formed their own association in time for the 1960-61 season. The new group covered football as well as basketball; Dick Riis of Redding was named the assigning chairman.

The current geographic alignment for the associations’ coverage areas was formed at that point as well: the Redding association went as far north as Central Valley, south to Corning and Los Molinos, west to Trinity and Hayfork, and east to Fall River. Chico’s group would go as far north as Chico, Orland and Paradise.

By the early 1970s, a few years following Title IX and its effect of establishing equal sporting opportunities for girls, the Superior California Officials Association provided coverage for girls’ games. It was essentially a mirror organization for the NCOA in Chico, as it covered 35 schools in the same geographic area, though the group also covered games for Corning and Los Molinos.

Chuck Sheley, who assigned SCOA games from 1977 through 1995, joined the group in 1976 when Mary Ann Harrison was assigning the games. However, Harrison – also the athletic director at Wheatland High School– offered the job to Sheley when her time constraints became too great.

Initially, officials earned $7.50 per girls game and drivers got less than 10 cents per mile, but officials soon were receiving the same rates as boys officials.

The SCOA merged with the NCOA in 1996, simplifying matters from a membership standpoint since many officials belonged to both organizations (though many others chose to work in only one group). The associations retained two assigning chairmen, one for each gender, until they consolidated in 2002. By doing so, the last relics of separate associations were eliminated for good.